Rating MLS Players

Castrol Index Rating the Players

We knows our readers love to watch and analyze how the top MLS players are performing on the field. The Castrol Index determines rankings for MLS players and we have teamed up to provide a special report on the stars in the MLS.

For the 2014 season, this Castrol Index weekly special feature will look at four players who are making an impact in the MLS: Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley and Matt Besler of the U.S. and Jermain Defoe of England.

The Full Castrol Index’s top five spots are:

• No. 1 Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)
• No. 2 Clint Dempsey (Seattle Sounders)
• No. 3 Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy)
• No. 4 Bill Hamid (D.C. United)
• No. 5 Fanendo Adi (Portland Timbers)

Our Castrol Index Special Report on the Pro Players

Landon Donovan – LA Galaxy:

Donovan played the full 90 minutes in LA Galaxy’s loss against the Seattle Sounders. He finished at number 15 of the overall rankings, gaining one place in this final match of the regular season.

The LA mid-fielder got most of his credit for his shooting activity. He may not have scored, but he was well rewarded for one on-target shot an another blocked shot from within the opposition penalty area. He also got limited credit for two more long-range shots, one of which was blocked and one was off-target.

In passing he didn’t do as well, as he had only one successful pass into the opposition’s box, which increased his team’s scoring chances. Apart from it, he gave away the ball on one occasion at a very favourable position close to Seattle’s goal and on two other occasions around their penalty area, so he was penalised for these bad passes. Had Donovan managed to deliver one of his usually positive passing performances, he would have probably ended up one place higher in the rankings, as Fabian Castillo (FC Dallas) finished only five points ahead of him at #14.

Donovan completed his final season as the top midfielder and ranked number 15 overall on the Index, with 676 points over 2,717 minutes played, reflecting a season total of 10 goals.

Jermain Defoe – Toronto FC:

Defoe did not play.

Michael Bradley – Toronto FC:

Bradley played the full match in Toronto’s loss against the New England Revolution. He climbed two places to finish at number 70 of the MLS rankings.

Offensively Bradley didn’t contribute a lot to his team’s attacking efforts. He had no shots in the match and his only significant actions in the final third of the pitch were two successful passes, one from behind in the penalty area and one crossed from the left wing to the edge of New England’s box. The Toronto mid-fielder was rather defensively oriented in this match.

Despite their loss, his team conceded less than an average MLS team is expected to concede. Their opponents had in total four on-target shots (including the goal) and two blocked shots in the match, so Bradley was slightly rewarded for his team’s defensive performance.

Matt Besler – Sporting Kansas City:

Besler played 90 minutes in his team’s loss against the New York Red Bulls. He remained at number 45 of the overall rankings.

He was again one of the main defenders of Sporting Kansas City in the match. They conceded two goals, allowing two more on-target shots. All these four goal attempts from the New York side were from close or middle distance to the SKC goal, so Besler, along with the rest of his defending team mates were penalised for these.

Besler got some credit for blocking one of the opposition’s shots just outside the penalty area. Finally, Besler was slightly rewarded for his passes, as he had a very high success rate (65/72, 90% success rate), but all of his passes were away from NY’s goal, so he didn’t get significant credit for any of them.

Now the Castrol Index for this Week:

With the end of the regular season, New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips earned the “2014 Castrol Index Top Player” distinction by accumulating 918 points, playing for 2,575 minutes.

For the Castrol Weekly Index, David Ousted of the Whitecaps moved from fourth spot last week to take the No. 1 spot. He had an incredible performance against the Rapids with five saves, which helped his team get to the Western Conference playoffs.

Ousted wasn’t the only goalkeeper to make the top five — four of the spots were taken by ‘keepers.

Steve Clark‘s six-save performance for a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Union earned him the No. 2. Chicago Fire’s Sean Johnson took the No. 3 spot with eight saves against the Houston Dynamo, whose forward, Omar Cummings landed the No. 4 spot for his goal in that game.

The Revolution’s netminder Bobbie Shuttleworth rounded out the top five for his work in the 1-0 win against Toronto FC.

Here is the full listing of Players

Castrol®, an official sponsor of Major League Soccer (MLS), final rankings report for the 2014 MLS regular season puts the players in perspective. New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips earned the “2014 Castrol Index Top Player” distinction by accumulating 918 points, playing for 2,575 minutes.

Wright-Phillips earned this title by also finishing the season with a total of 27 goals, tying for the MLS single-season goals scored record with Chris Wondolowski and Roy Lassiter, who both reached the record in 2012 and 1996, respectively. As a result, Wright-Phillips also takes home the 2014 Budweiser Golden Boot for MLS.

Bill Hamid of D.C. United took the top goalkeeper spot, while Omar Gonzalez of the LA Galaxy is the top defender. Hamid’s success as goalkeeper was a result of his strong, consistent performance, allowing only 34 goals in 2,700 minutes of play, while defender Gonzalez had four goals and two assists in 1,901 minutes of play.

In its fourth season, the Castrol Index continued to help soccer fans track the performance of their favorite players by using the latest technology to objectively analyze the 2014 MLS season. Analysts logged more than 1,800 player movements per match, assessing every player’s actions for net positive or negative impact on a team’s ability to score or concede a goal.

To learn more about the Castrol Index, the Official Performance Index of Major League Soccer, please click here.

The Castrol Index was first introduced in 2008 with Castrol’s official sponsorship of Euro2008. In 2010 the Index was expanded through a partnership with FIFA for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

The Castrol Index, the official performance index of MLS, ranked all players from the data collected since the MLS season began on March 8, 2014, through the final game of the season.